Executive Functioning and the Emerging Adult:
The Dissonance Between Intelligence and Competence
Emerging adulthood is a time of cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioral transformation. The brain is more neuroplastic than any other time of life after the first three years and executive functioning and self-organizational skills are “coming online” to set the trajectory for the rest of the emerging adult’s life (Giedd, 2008; Schore, 1994). The brain has overproduced neurons and is now selectively eliminating that which can be ‘weeded out,’ to assist in greater connectivity and integration of disparate brain functions (Giedd, 2008). During the emerging adult years, the myelin lining of the neurons is building and consolidating (Hooper et al., 2004). Development of the orbitofrontal cortex is solidifying, leading to better impulse control and judgment (Galvan et al., 2006). Self-esteem and life competence are also emerging during this time, making the young adult vulnerable to inflation and deflation of self-esteem. Vulnerable self-esteem can lead to avoidance in two ways: 1) avoidance of facing the reality of their competencies and incompetencies, and 2) avoidance of learning a skill. Either way, the emerging adult can feel ashamed and like a failure. This only perpetuates the avoidance. We could find no research study examining the current norms of independent life functioning in this age group, but in our experience, such include skills such as using kitchen appliances, self-care hygiene, regulating sleep, managing finances, maintaining safety, and executive functioning.
Executive functions are self-regulating and control functions that direct and organize behavior. These include planning, decision making, directed goal selection, self-inhibiting, self-monitoring, self-evaluating, flexible problem-solving, initiation, and self-awareness (Zoltan, 1996). For example, self-inhibiting describes the ability to cease doing something, like deciding one is finished with playing a video game and turning it off. Initiation represents the ability to begin a task, which can be very difficult when negative emotions dysregulate functioning. An example of this is how difficult it is for an emerging adult to take a shower in the morning, to just begin that process, when feeling very depressed or anxious. Managing emotions is an essential capacity to develop at this time. This includes tolerating distress, in the moment, and modulating emotions for task accomplishment. Dysregulated emotions negatively affect the ability to function. A depressed brain cannot engage, connect, or sprout new learning circuits (Leuchter et al., 2002). Executive functions rely heavily on frontal lobe circuitry that is relatively late in maturing (Giedd, 2008).
Imagine how challenging a typical day is in an emerging adult’s life. They have to be able to get up in time to do their morning routine, eat, and get to school, work, or volunteering, either by car, foot, or public transportation. They have to be able to run errands like grocery shop within a budget, mail bills, get to doctor’s appointments, etc. At home, they have to manage their apartment, keeping it clean and maintained. They need to prepare their meals, find social activities to fill their time, do laundry, and get to bed at a reasonable hour. They are learning to do these things mostly on their own when, in the past, others have done the tasks for them or assisted them.
For those emerging adults who are not competent in these life skills, their self-image and self-esteem suffer tremendously. They feel debilitating shame and self-recrimination. They try to hide their incompetence, not asking for help, soon they are overwhelmed with dirty laundry, broken appliances, messy refrigerators, and unpaid bills. For example, one young man is fully capable of showering, dressing himself, and making it to appointments, but he has never experienced independent living. He has not learned how to do laundry, budget his money, or set up utilities in a new apartment. He feels great shame and self-contempt, as if he’s “supposed to know how” to do these things, even though he has not had a chance to learn. Instead of reaching out to those around him who can show him the way, he denies his needs out of humiliation and self-condemnation. Instead of asking for assistance, he laughs at the thought, stating he doesn’t need the help. At these moments, he feels utterly alone in the world, unable to request the help he needs because he thinks he should already know how to do everything. Even when those around him offer support, he brushes it off, later resenting that no one is there to support him. The idea of successfully living an independent life seems hopeless.
To a parent, teacher, or boss, what looks like laziness or irresponsibility may actually be executive functioning deficits, which are neurological mechanisms tied to specific brain functions key to development at this age. The parent sees the son who isn’t showering and is distressed, concludes that he is lazy or doesn’t care about his appearance, when it is really a deficit in the executive function of “initiation.” A teacher observes a student who forgets to turn in homework all the time and concludes that student is irresponsible when, really, it is a deficit in “planning.” A boss sees an employee who gets stuck on simple tasks as “dumb” when, in reality, it is a deficit in “problem-solving.”